re: 2015 Recruiting Discussion

Anything can happen with the sips but being forced to listen to Austin radio over the years it amazes me how much they are ignoring the huge warning signs. They are a paper thin team that has a lot of issues they are glossing over that will likely be exposed in an obscene way.

It starts with Ash of course as he is their only competent QB. Swoopes and Heard essentially can't throw the ball. Heard will likely get better over time but he honestly needs a RS that he won't get. Ash is also hardly a savior. At his best he is an average QB that hasn't played or even been hit in a year. At the smallest sign of a concussion he is done for good. Realize we are talking about a guy that Matt Joekel could likely run circles around and he is easily their best QB that will likely not make it more than a couple of games if that.

Their OL is a piecework of guys, many of which wouldn't crack our 3 deep. This is critical because they have a run based system and a QB made of glass. Gray and Brown are good RB's but no RB can do anything if he is hit by 2 guys in the backfield. We already discussed that if Ash goes down you might as well mail in whatever hope there was of a season as well.

Strong's "cleansing" program or whatever you want to call it has devastated their team. Sure you have some guys that were kicked off but Strong is going with the route of playing the guys that "buy in". Guess who that means? A ton of walk ons. Their scrimmage Saturday was littered with walk ons getting a ton of reps. Remember what it was like in the Fran era when we ran out a ton of walk ons expecting them to contribute? Mind you we aren't talking about Travis Labhart type guys that had worked their way up either.

They are very reliant on a lot of guys that are either true fish or haven't played to come in and not only contribute but be significant pieces. These aren't Speedy Noil/Myles Garrett 5 Stars either. When you are praying that Jaxson Shipley can heal up his Hammy (something that is unlikely to ever be right once injured) you are in big trouble. This isn't Jordan, this is Jaxson. A guy that at best is an average WR. That's a huge red flag. This team simply doesn't have many standouts and has some gaping holes.

Everyone in Austin has gone all in on the "let's bash Mack" wagon but Mack honestly did a pretty great job last year. Texas won a few games they had no business winning (esp WVU and Iowa State) and really didn't have a terrible loss (sorry but BYU and Ole Miss were more talented teams than Texas was). Strong is the only rookie coach in the BDF and the hill to climb is a big one. I could see UCLA absolutely destroying Texas early and putting them in a spiral. This is a very fragile team that is relying on the "magic sauce" of Strong being able to somehow get them to be better than they really are and if cracks form in that belief then it could get ugly, really ugly.

Of course I could be wrong. Maybe Strong can get all of these guys to come together and play above their talent level. Maybe they get insanely lucky on injuries. I'm just saying that the alternate is far more likely. Simply by putting a uterus on your helmet does not make players more talented and if you look at this team objectively as though they were anyone else I don't see how you expect them to be above 7-5 with a real possibility of being a lot worse.